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SEC Proposes Change to Business Reporting Requirements

For public companies subject to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulation on mandatory disclosure, changes may be coming very soon.

The proposed amendments to Regulation S-K aim for “modernization.” From an HR standpoint, the most important potential change comes down to three words: “human capital resources.”

If amended, the rule would make a company’s human capital management (HCM) practices an important element of public disclosures, providing investors with a better understanding of how each company looks at its human capital.

Disclosure topics

According to the proposed rule change, new HCM-related disclosure topics could include:

  • recruitment and hiring practices
  • employee benefits and grievance mechanisms
  • employee engagement and investment in employee training and development
  • workplace health and safety
  • strategies and goals
  • employee pay rates and promotional structures
  • employee turnover rates

As of now, the only employee-oriented disclosure requirement asks for a company’s number of employees.

How HR may be affected

If you’re an HR professional, you may be struck by the game-changing possibilities – and not in a bad way!

The revamped rule could open the door to disclosure of a whole new category of information, responsibility for which belongs, in many ways, to you. Your executive team will likely look to you to provide the critical information required to comply. HR tech with reporting functionality that allows you to provide this information in detail will become more important than ever.

But for now, we wait. The period for public comment on the proposed amendment ended Oct. 22. It’s up to the commissioners to review the public feedback and reach an agreement on the rule’s final form. When that time rolls around, we will be ready with more detailed coverage and analysis of the implications – not just here on the Paycom blog, but also in our upcoming white paper on the topic. Stay tuned!